Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry’s fame, has done a brilliant Flash video for TrueMajority, a political advocacy organization. It discusses the budget situation in terms of Oreo cookie stacks, and presents some very good arguments for shifting just a little money (only a few cookies) from our &$#*% military budget over to education, children’s healthcare, and alternative energy. Good job Ben. And your Cherry Garcia ain’t half bad either 😉

An LA judge ruled that part of the Patriot Act is unconstitutional. She ruled that “a provision in the law banning certain types of support for terrorist groups was so vague that it risked running afoul of the First Amendment.” I also agree with Karen Schneider, who disagrees with Jessamyn West, that this part of the law is applicable to libraries in that it deals with who you can talk to, and about what. More specifically, “expert advice or assistance” given to terrorist organizations is considered a violation of the law. The Humanitarian Law Project folks saw this law as preventing them from providing relief assistance to Kurdish refugees in Turkey. And the judge agreed. It’s a step in the right direction…

Jerry Bruckheimer has bought the movie rights to American McGee’s Oz, a game not even released yet (though highly anticipated by those of us who swooned over American McGee’s Alice). The new news is that Bruckheimer plans to turn the game into a complete trilogy of movies. Could be interesting…very interesting.

Bill Gates is receiving an honorary knighthood from the Queen. Wealthiest man in the world, and a knight? Not too shabby for a geek… As much as MS products make me crazy, Gates still gets my kudos for all he’s done for the computing world.

Gates chose the World Economic Forum as his podium. He announced that Microsoft search technologies would soon outdo Google, and that a new innovative three-pronged approach would effectively thwart spammers. Cheeky monkey, that Bill Gates.